Huge Ajax's Arc

Chapter 538 of 619

The wright was hired and the harbor was cutting deeper each day. But a bigger ship needed a captain to run it, and Marcus already held the Seraphine. Ajax could not split one man across two hulls. He called Tucker, Marco, and JD to the hall to find a new captain who could sail the open run and keep the route hidden. Tucker leaned on the table, one gold chain catching the lamp. "I know the wharfs," he said. "Plenty of men can hold a wheel. The trick is finding one who won't sell your water for a bottle." He shrugged. "Marcus vouched for the coastal captain once. He can vouch again. But a man he doesn't know? That we read ourselves." Marco sat with his arms folded. He had ridden in from the Crossing gate that morning, still dusty, and he heard lies the way other men heard rain. "I read the wright when we bought him," Marco said. "I read this one twice. Once at the wharf, once at the gate. If he plans to run to a harbor master, I'll know before he leaves the room." JD stood by the wall, green shirt open, listening more than he spoke. He was Marco's brother, and he carried the same gift, though he worked harder for it. "I take the bar shifts," JD said. "Captains talk when they drink. I'll flag any who ask about your gate before we ever offer them the job." He said it flat, then stopped. Ajax looked between the brothers. "Then it's set. Tucker rides the wharfs and finds three men in debt, no old lords, no ties. JD works them at the bar first. Marco reads each one clean before he sees the canal." He set his hand on the table. "No captain sails my hull until all three of you pass him." Tucker left at dawn and came back on the fourth tide with a lean captain who owed silver at two ports. JD poured him wine and listened a full night. The man drank and told stories and never once asked where the ship berthed. Marco read him at the bar, then again at the gate. "Clean," Marco said. "He wants coin and a way out of debt. Nothing else." Ajax brought the captain to the water and let him see the canal once. Then he bound him with the silver chain, charmed to Ajax's father's gold, so treachery would carry across the sea. The captain swore the oath at midnight and knelt. "The hull's not built yet," Ajax told his council after. "But when it slides down the ways, it has a captain who can't name us and can't run." He looked at the three men who had found him. "Two ships. Two crews. Every hide this house pulls, moving north at once." The new captain was sworn. The last piece was in place.